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Reflections

In the Key of Beauty

At the end of the mass in Ciudad Juárez the pope stopped reading his notes, looked up and said that there were points where he was about to tear up during his visit to Ciudad Juárez. He said that many parents would lift up their children as he was passing by. He said that he was deeply touched to see so much hope, represented in those children, in a city that had known so much pain.

In the next few posts I’d like to speak about hope. Those children are promises for the future, but hope is already making a cradle for them in the city. I’d like to affirm that in this and the next post.

I find great hope in the pursuit of beauty, art and infrastructure for the city.

When I was doing volunteer work in Juarez there was something I’d love to show my friends, what I called “Pretty Juarez.” The places I love. Many of those were affected by the violence, and run down. However, a sign of hope is that people are starting to rebuild the city, and re-beautify it. These people find in the words of Francis a renewed impetus. When Francis was speaking to people from the business world, he said that we are co-creators with God. In this post I’d like to affirm those co-creators, and give you a view of the city that is rarely shown.

I want to begin here, because it is such a symbolic piece. This is a Mural that went up in Juarez recently. This face is engraved within every art piece and architectural structure built or re-serviced after the violence. It is the face of hope, but not a superficial or manufactured one. It’s a face of hope from someone who has known great pain. This is the face of Ciudad Juárez today:

I see that face in the following places: In the next video I have a silent walk through a park that is in front of San Lorenzo, a church that the pope probably saw on the way to El Punto. The videos below are super short, I promise, and you don’t really need headphones, but there’s wonderful singing birds in the background:

Now let’s leave this very spot and fly over some of Juárez’s most beautiful architectural buildings today. All of these were either made or re-serviced after the violence. They are all cradles of hope where the Children of Juárez will play, work and pray:

Finally, here’s a video at night passing through a restaurant section. It is a real joy to see places like this, where people can come to just have a good time. Places of fun and recreation were precisely the first things that disappeared when the violence hit. Here’s to more of such cradles of hope for the city!

This is just to wrap it up, and give you a good sense of the City. It’s a video made for Francis’ visit:

These are just a few places. However, art and infrastructure are not the only places of hope. I’d like to mention some more in the following post. To finish on a symbolic image. Here’s the pope kissing one of those babies raised up to him during his visit to Juarez: